62 THE BIRDS OF MAINE 



nest openly along the shores. Its note is said to be a harsh 

 "cack" which is quite different from the calls of its near rela- 

 tives. Dr. Dwight records it as breeding sparingly on Sable 

 Island, Nova Scotia, which is its northern limit. 



Subgenus STERNULA Boie. 



74. Sterna antillarum {hess.y. Least Tern; Little Striker. 



Plumage in summer adults : pale gray above ; forehead, stripe each side of 

 crown back of and above eyes, and lower parts white ; rest of head, back 

 neck and stripe from bill to eyes black ; bill yellow, black-tipped ; feet orange 

 yellow ; outer web of outer primaries black. Plumage in winter adults : bill 

 dark or black ; lores, forehead and crown white, spotted with black ; back of 

 head black. Immature plumage : more or less mottled with buffy and 

 blackish above ; scapulars and lesser wing coverts with submarginal U-shaped 

 dusky marks. Wing 6.50 to 6.90 ; culmen 1.15 ; tarsus 0.62. 



Geog. Dist. — Northern South America northward to California, Dakota, 

 and rarely to Maine and even Labrador ; on the Atlantic coast rarely breed- 

 ing as far north as Massachusetts. 



County Records. — Cumberland; formerly occurred every year at Green 

 Islands, but none seen for a number of years, (Brown, C. B. P., p. 35). 



Though reported as formerly occurring near Portland by 

 Mr. Brown, and given by Mr. Boardman as accidental at Grand 

 Men an. New Brunswick^ there seem to be no records of its 

 occurrence within the past fifteen to twenty years, and should 

 it occur in the future it would be as a mere straggler. These 

 handsome little birds nest in colonies, laying their eggs on the 

 bare sand of sea beaches in late May or June, two to four but 

 oftenest three eggs being the complement. These eggs are 

 buflfy white to pale bluish white in color, spotted with lilac, 

 brown, chocolate and umber. A set of three from Tyhu Island, 

 Georgia, June 22, 1891, measure 1.19 x 0.90, 1.16 x 0.89, 1.22 

 X 0.94. These eggs were laid on the beach. Colonies of sev- 

 eral dozen pair of these little birds nest on the beach at Red- 

 ondo, California, and also near Pacific Beach. A nest found 

 at Redondo, June 5, 1897, was a mere depression in the sand 

 and the eggs measure 1.14x0.97, 1.21x0.88, 1.19x0.88. 



